A political group in Akwa Ibom, the PDP Young Professionals Converge, has challenged Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State to publicly commit to resign from office if the Ibom Deep Seaport does not begin operations within two years.

The group, in a press release issued over the weekend, said it was challenging Mr Eno because the governor claimed he defected from the PDP to the ruling APC to get President Bola Tinubu to help actualise Akwa Ibom’s dream of the Ibom Deep Seaport.

“If the seaport is indeed the prize promised for this political surrender, then let the Governor commit publicly that if operations do not commence within two years, he will resign from office. That would be the honourable thing to do, given that this was the fundamental justification painted for the defection,” said the group.

“Of the two most critical speeches made at the event (Eno’s reception rally by the APC) – that of the APC National Chairman and the Vice President, not one showed a clear or unequivocal commitment to Pastor Umo Eno’s most important demand: the Ibom Deep Seaport. Instead, the entire focus was on declaring and cementing Governor Eno’s place as APC’s local political leader.

“It is telling that a ceremony of such financial magnitude would yield no concrete gains, no presidential assurances, no development commitments, but just theatre. There would have been far more efficient and prudent use of our state resources than staging that charade.”

The group’s Convener, Ewa Okpo, a lawyer, and the Secretary, Ebitu Michael, signed the press release.

The group’s position is a response to an earlier public statement issued by a former chieftain of the PDP, Assam Assam, who claimed Governor Eno’s defection to the APC is justified because Akwa Ibom was unfairly treated when the PDP was the ruling party at the centre.

Mr Assam, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, also defected to the APC alongside other PDP leaders in the state.

“Akwa Ibom is not a political pawn. We are a people with a history, a voice, and a mandate. That voice must not be silenced by opportunism. That mandate must not be bartered away,” the PDP Young Professionals Converge said.

PDP YOUNG PROFESSIONALS CONVERGE When History is Rewritten by the Defeated: A Response to Chief Assam Assam, SAN

On Wednesday, June 18 2025, Akwa Ibom State was treated to an exercise in political revisionism, a carefully crafted but ultimately hollow narrative by Chief Assam E. Assam, SAN, published under the audacious title “Leaving the People’s Democratic Party: The choice before the Akwa Ibom People (A matter of common sense)”.

With the seeming endorsement of the state government’s machinery, the piece attempts to recast the recent political defections, led by Governor Umo Eno, as some heroic departure from institutional betrayal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It is, in fact, an elaborate apology for political opportunism, dressed up in the borrowed robes of democratic evolution.

The write-up, laced with emotive language and selective memory, paints a picture of a PDP that has given Akwa Ibom “the short end of the stick” since 1999, a claim that collapses under the slightest weight of historical scrutiny. That this narrative emanates from a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, a former Attorney General of Akwa Ibom, and an Ambassador of the Federal Republic, most of whose public life has been largely nurtured under the PDP, makes it all the more ironic and disturbing. Seasoned diplomats should carry themselves with candour, dignity in their speeches and truth in their actions, they should be shrewd and intelligent but Chief Assam has clearly tainted that with self-deceit, and a peculiar national form of it. Like many Akwa Ibom people, we do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

Interestingly, his publication was met with the rightful outrage of well-meaning Akwa Ibomites who are deeply familiar with the political history and evolution of our state and can see through the gaslighting by the select few who are only capable of looking after their self-interest and preservation, and, apparently, after nothing else.

And if evidence of political farce were ever needed, it was amply provided at the much-anticipated “Welcome Rally” for Governor Umo Eno into the APC fold on Saturday, 21 June 2025, at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium. Despite the grandstanding and over ₦2.5 billion reportedly spent on the ceremony, the absence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu cast a long shadow over the event. One is left to wonder if Pastor Umo Eno is truly the darling bride, or is the President already signalling a calculated non-committal stance towards any demands the Governor may bring?

Of the two most critical speeches made at the event – that of the APC National Chairman and the Vice President, not one showed a clear or unequivocal commitment to Pastor Umo Eno’s most important demand: the Ibom Deep Seaport. Instead, the entire focus was on declaring and cementing Governor Eno’s place as APC’s local political leader. It is telling that a ceremony of such financial magnitude would yield no concrete gains, no presidential assurances, no development commitments but just theatre. There would have been far more efficient and prudent use of our state resources than staging that charade.

Assuming without conceding that the Vice President made any form of commitment regarding the Deep Seaport, we must ask what such a promise is worth. Did a Vice President not commit, years ago, to relocating the headquarters of major oil companies to the 21-storey Dakkada Tower? Has that materialised? Has anyone been held accountable? History is replete with political promises made in Uyo only to be ignored in Abuja. We cannot afford to be naive.

As for Chief Assam’s claim that the PDP failed to take action or show seriousness over the governor’s posture and discomfort before he defected, the question must be asked: what exactly did Governor Umo Eno contribute to the PDP that gave him everything – financially, morally, or structurally? Was he ever a part of its engine room, its strategy meetings, or its soul? – the same party that handed him the governorship ticket on a platter? He was not part of the party’s trenches, its struggles, or its strategy. He was handed a mandate in trust, which he has now betrayed. The party did not take his threats seriously because his posture lacked seriousness and sacrifice. Loyalty cannot be demanded where it has not been earned.

Akwa Ibom’s political evolution cannot and should not be reduced to the ambitions or frustrations of elite defectors who now wish to rewrite history to justify their dining at new tables. These tables, let it be noted, were not built on any long-standing ideological convergence but on the transactional logic of self-preservation.

Indeed, while Chief Assam may wish to cast PDP-led federal governments as hostile to Akwa Ibom, history bears witness to the fact that, it was a PDP-led National Assembly with Senator Udo Udoma leading the ranks, that legislated and protected the onshore/offshore dichotomy resolution; a singular act that multiplied the state’s revenue base and made today’s infrastructural stride possible. Perhaps the most pivotal federal intervention in Akwa Ibom’s history, the abrogation of the onshore/offshore oil dichotomy, was achieved under President Olusegun Obasanjo (PDP). This singular legislative and executive action, spearheaded by Akwa Ibom’s own Governor Obong Victor Attah, and backed by the PDP-led National Assembly, ensured that Akwa Ibom began to receive derivation revenue from offshore oil production, drastically boosting its revenue from about ₦8 billion to over ₦100 billion annually. A struggle which the revered Obong Attah had publicly documented has almost been sabotaged by the same Chief Assam.

Chief Assam is no paragon of consistency. A serial defector and political wanderer whose motives have never aligned with the long-term interests of Akwa Ibom. His opposition to Obong Victor Attah’s fight for resource control, documented through his infamous open letters and ill-advised commentary, is a stain that history will not bleach out. The best compass for the Akwa Ibom interest, it seems, is to observe where Chief Assam stands and then move in the opposite direction. He has never represented the best interests of this state.

Contrary to Assam’s narrative of political exclusion, Akwa Ibom citizens held several federal positions under PDP rule, including Chief Assam himself, and saw the continued entrenchment of federal institutions and agencies in the state. From Rita Akpan (Minister of Women Affairs, 2003), Helen Esuene, John Udoedehe, Chief Nduese Essien, Akon Eyakenyi, Ita Ewa, to the late Ufot Ekaette, who served as Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Akwa Ibom State has been well-represented in Nigeria’s federal governance under PDP leadership.

To erase these facts, or to downplay the party’s role in birthing and sustaining modern Akwa Ibom, is not just intellectually lazy but historically dishonest. If, as Chief Assam claims, Akwa Ibom only received “the short end of the stick,” one wonders what length of stick he personally wielded as Attorney General, Ambassador, and close PDP insider. Perhaps now, under the broom, he hopes to wield a longer stick. One only hopes he still understands the carrot-and-stick theory. PDP may have been generous with carrots; APC only offers sticks – long sticks of punishment, as evidenced in its history of neglect, insecurity, economic hardship, and divisive governance.

On the fallacy that the PDP left Akwa Ibom with “zero” federal projects, we recall that under PDP rule, Akwa Ibom received ecological funds as publicly acknowledged under the Jonathan administration and put to use. Under PDP leadership, the state established the Ibom Power Plant, Ibom Specialist Hospital, and conceptualised Ibom Air. Federal agencies like TETFUND and UBEC enabled sweeping reforms in higher and basic education. NDDC invested in key infrastructure across the state. And in all of this, we were never asked to wave a broom to access our constitutional entitlements. That is what it means to be a federating unit, not a subject state going cap-in-hand to beg for attention. Yet, Assam tells us Akwa Ibom got nothing. If a man chooses to forget, history must be there to remind him.

The argument that Akwa Ibom must “connect to the centre” to access development projects is not only dangerous, it is anti-federalist. Lagos State has grown its IGR and remained a model for subnational governance while in opposition. Meanwhile, Cross River, once a beacon of tourism and urban excellence under Donald Duke and Liyel Imoke (both PDP governors), has descended into disrepair since Governor Ben Ayade defected to the APC. What then is the value of being “at the centre” if it offers neither strategic advantage nor infrastructural uplift? This narrative is a cloak for political insecurity.

There are leaders who stay and mend their broken houses; and there are those who flee at the first sign of trouble. Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra remains the only Governor elected on the APGA platform, yet he has not defected. He has stayed, weathered the storm, and built governance. That is leadership. That is principle. That is consistency.

It is disingenuous to argue that being in the opposition is the reason Akwa Ibom has not achieved the Ibom Deep Seaport. The truth is that under the same APC-led federal government, and while Akwa Ibom was still firmly under PDP leadership, the Federal Executive Council approved the Full Business Case for the project in 2020, a milestone secured through the vigorous advocacy of the then PDP governor. If anything, that moment proved that determined leadership can attract the right gains, regardless of party lines.

There may be several reasons why the project has not taken off since then, including the widely rumored geopolitical concerns and the very suspicions that Governor Umo Eno himself raised while campaigning as a PDP candidate. At the time, he categorically stated that President Tinubu would never build the Ibom Deep Seaport because his interests were better served with the Lekki Deep Seaport in Lagos. How then, within just two years, have those suspicions vanished? What exactly has the Tinubu-led administration done for Akwa Ibom to suddenly earn such deep and unreserved trust?

If the seaport is indeed the prize promised for this political surrender, then let the Governor commit publicly that if operations do not commence within two years, he will resign from office. That would be the honourable thing to do, given that this was the fundamental justification painted for the defection.

We must also interrogate the democratic credentials so easily attributed to Governor Eno. In one breath, he declares his loyalty to the APC; in another, he affirms he will continue to fund the PDP in the state to prevent “others” from taking the platform and contesting against him. This is not democracy. This is political hostage-taking.

The idea that the entire state is defecting is yet another fiction. What we see is the movement of a few elites, many of whom lost their polling units and wards in the last elections. Chief Assam, for instance, lost his ward to the Labour Party in 2023. This is the political weight now attempting to speak for the entire state?

The people of Akwa Ibom, on 18 March 2023, voted resoundingly for the PDP. Governor Eno emerged from that mandate with 356,346 votes. That mandate was not given to the All Progressives Congress, and the Governor’s defection is therefore not a movement of the people, but a movement away from the people’s expressed political will.

Chief Assam would do well to remind himself of the party that gave him visibility, a platform, and a voice. He should remember that the carrots of the PDP built Akwa Ibom, even if today he seeks to wield a stick in a new party. The PDP made mistakes; every party does, but it remains the party that gave us a future. If a house you helped build needs repairs, you stay and fix it; you do not burn it down in the hope of finding space in another man’s house.

Akwa Ibom is not a political pawn. We are a people with a history, a voice, and a mandate. That voice must not be silenced by opportunism. That mandate must not be bartered away. And that history must never be rewritten by those who wish to dress ambition and an unpopular political heist in the borrowed robe of necessity.

Ewa Okpo, ESQ
Convener
Ebitu Michael
Secretary